Digital Twins
Simulating Human Behavior and Society with AI Agents
One of the most promising applications of Large Language Models (LLMs) is the creation of “Digital Twins”—AI agents designed to simulate the behavior, preferences, and decision-making processes of specific human individuals. This research initiative builds the foundations for silicon sampling, offering a scalable alternative to traditional human-subject research. We introduced Twin-2K-500, a massive benchmark dataset of over 2,000 digital twins based on real humans, and conducted a mega-study across 19 domains to evaluate their fidelity. Our findings reveal that while digital twins can capture relative heterogeneity, they struggle with precise individual prediction and exhibit a “blue-shift” bias—where richer persona descriptions paradoxically lead to more progressive, skewed simulation outcomes.
Contributors
Tianyi Peng, Olivier Toubia, George Z. Gui, Daniel J. Merlau, Ang Li, Haozhe Chen, Hongseok Namkoong
Publications
- Twin-2k-500: A data set for building digital twins of over 2,000 people based on their answers to over 500 questions Marketing Science 2025
- LLM Generated Persona is a Promise with a Catch NeurIPS Position Paper 2025
- A mega-study of digital twins reveals strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for further improvement arXiv 2025